anyone on WW??

[Veronica]

You know 8 pounds is how much a gallon of water weighs. 1 boob = a gallon of water?

Veronica

[Aggie_Ama]

I am beginning to think it must have been on average two boobs? I mean I got some fairly big boobs but I can't see one weighing 8 lbs! Although I did like telling myself that.

Sorry to hijack Elk's WW thread but since it WWers here, does anyone use a HR to figure activity points? I prefer not to eat my APs but I am curious since I just got a HR monitor how my run tonight translated. I am very curious about my cycling since the cycling APs seeming really messed up, racing>12 mph?!

[elk]

you get "moderate" or "brisk".... that's enough for me! Brisk (I think) biking for 1.5 hrs nets me a good handful of APs...but I don't swap them either.

Although after this weekend...knowing I had 10 aps helped my psyche... we had dinner out 2 nights in a row and when I came home and looked up points I just about fell over!!


ps that's not a hijack...i just wanted a place for us to talk about all kinds of ww stuff....;-)

[greycoral]

I read somewhere a long time ago that 100 calories burned=1 AP. Not sure if that's even right anymore, but I keep that in mind. My goal is to burn between 400-600 calories/day. I never use the AP's for more food unless I am doing a 1000+ calorie day (in addition to cycling, I also do a lot of hiking, usually 6-10 mile trips). I need the extra calories then, so I don't feel as bad, but only trade in 4 at the most.

[Aggie_Ama]

Grey- Probably pretty close. I did 33.5 minutes at high HR and put it in as 33 minutes, high intensity. It was 4 APs per the calculator (this is for my weight, I know they vary by weight).

Since I got back on WW a month ago I had been letting the points swap but then I noticed I am eating a ton and not good stuff, junk. When I successfully lost before I didn't take the APs to swap, I didn't want to eat my exercise. I may have to when I hit a cut off and lose some points, right now my 21 is hard but 22 wouldn't be.

Right now it is much slower than I thought it would be. I think I will keep notes of how many APs I earned, I have consistently been earning 20+ a week which makes me content. I try to be active everyday except one pure rest day. Some weeks I take more than that if my body tells me to. Otherwise I run 30-60 minutes, commute home (27 miles), road or mountain bike. And that crazy pushup challenge. I think HR monitor will help me judge my effort better, looking forward to that.

NSV this morning- my jeans I have been wearing for the last couple months were too baggy and looked bad, even DH said they were too baggie to wear. I put on a pair I haven't been able to wear since the spring.

[divingbiker]

I use 100 cal = 1 AP, and I usually earn about 50 a week. I eat either them or the WPAs, sometimes both. I don't understand not eating them at all--you're exercising, you need more calories. And one point is essentially 50 calories, so you're still burning more than you're eating.

I find that the activity calculator says I get way more APs than my HRM does, so I go by the HRM.

[Aggie_Ama]

I don't understand not eating them at all--you're exercising, you need more calories. And one point is essentially 50 calories, so you're still burning more than you're eating.

I find that the activity calculator says I get way more APs than my HRM does, so I go by the HRM.

I mean I don't want to use them and the flex points. Last week I used almost all of both (all WPA and most APs), I did lose 1 lb but I think I am eating more at a maintenance level. Maybe I should think about just eating some APs and trying not to flex. I have only been back OP for a month and still trying to find my balance. Last time I lost fast but felt deprived because I hardly had candy, sweets, my beloved Mexican food, fast food, fried foods (hey I am southern, I need this on occassion). So this time I am trying to eat better but not completely deprive myself. Now that I have the HRM I think I will rely on it for the APs.

Do you do minutes in high= high intensity? Or just 100= 1.

For instance last night I had 33:38 for my run, of that 33:10 was "high". I would put that all as high intensity= 4 pts? It was 368 calories so that would be 3.5 pts but I think they just round up on APs. For running it seems on with their charts but cycling I am sure will be eye opening either good or bad. I am really curious how it will play for cycling as my husband thinks I do not work that hard at it but I feel like I am exerting. When I quit running in favor of only cycling I did gain though.

[greycoral]

when I am cycling, my HR usually stays up above 75%. On our last ride, I even had points that it was 95% (I was racing my husband at the very end haha). I like to keep it around 85% most of the time, so it's been great knowing exactly how hard I'm working!

As far as eating the AP's...I think it depends on your body. I've tried it both ways. When I would eat my AP's (again, with my max of 4 per day), I wasn't losing weight. I went back to eating only my daily points, and started losing again. I'm not all that strict, I eat when I need to eat, especially if I've worked out hard, but I've just found that if I eat my AP's and extra weekly points, the scale doesn't budge. I still get 25 points/day though, I know when I drop more weight and my daily allowance drops, I will need to eat up my AP's for sure.

[divingbiker]

I just count 100 calories = 1 AP. I'm not smart enough with the HRM to figure out how many of my calories were in the high/medium/whatever category.

GC, good for you if you can get by without eating APs or WPAs. I get 22 pts (soon to go down to 21, I hope), and that's not nearly enough when I'm exercising.

[greycoral]

GC, good for you if you can get by without eating APs or WPAs. I get 22 pts (soon to go down to 21, I hope), and that's not nearly enough when I'm exercising.

Yeah, I hear ya. Like I mentioned, I've still got a lot to lose, so my daily points are still high. There are days where I feel like I just can't get enough food in my belly! I will definitely be using them as I get smaller, but still making good food choices instead of eating junk.

[gnat23]

I just count 100 calories = 1 AP. I'm not smart enough with the HRM to figure out how many of my calories were in the high/medium/whatever category.

GC, good for you if you can get by without eating APs or WPAs. I get 22 pts (soon to go down to 21, I hope), and that's not nearly enough when I'm exercising.

Ok, so here's where I get confused.

I ride into work, one way, 20 miles and ~1000 ft climbing. It takes an hour and a half, I average 85% MHR (per formula which I know isn't accurate, but it's at least ubiquitous), and the program says I burn about 900-950 calories doing it.

Per most calculators and WW tools I've used, and now this 100cal=1AP thing, this is *9* Activity Points. Wow!

So on days I ride into work, should I be eating 9 more points? 4 more points? or none? That's quite a difference between 20 points a day and 29!

(when I eat "none", I should mention that I am a starving wreck by about 7pm and will claw at the kitchen walls for sustenance if I must, so I know I should eat some of them... but how many?)

-- gnat! (I should be in a bikini with how much riding I do these days, but noooo...)

[greycoral]

I still say to eat only 4 AP's. One of my friends who does the meetings in person has told me that as well.

[divingbiker]

So on days I ride into work, should I be eating 9 more points? 4 more points? or none? That's quite a difference between 20 points a day and 29!

(when I eat "none", I should mention that I am a starving wreck by about 7pm and will claw at the kitchen walls for sustenance if I must, so I know I should eat some of them... but how many?)

Well, I'd eat at least half of them, and possibly all 9; if you ate all 9 you still burned 250 more than you ate. If your weight loss slows when you eat all your APs, then eat half of them.

I've also heard the rule of thumb for some people is don't eat any APs if you earn 4 or fewer; if you earn more, eat everything above 4.

I try not to dip into WPAs on days that I eat all my APs. The weight loss gets really slow when I eat all I'm "entitled" to.

[Aggie_Ama]

I am just now trying the eat the APs thing so we will see how it goes. My new HRM has been a real eye opener and I take it is as relatively accurate albeit probably a little high. Yesterday my 27 mile commute burned 1252 calories. It is rolling and 22 miles were into the wind, so very feasible that the big heavy bike was a pretty decent work out. Despite trying to stay in my zone, I spent about 1/3 in the "high" zone (I think that is anaerobic?). I ate most the APs, of course we did go out to dinner unplanned. I wouldn't eat all the APs because a little computer can't be that close. I have heard as much as 25% over? If so that would be more like 9 APs which is how many I ended up eating.

When I eat all my APs and all or most my WPAs I see slow or no weight loss. I don't think that works, at least not for me. But it makes sense to at least eat some of your APs. I get 21 points a day, I don't know the calorie formula but lets say the easy 1pt=50 calories, that is only 1,050 calories a day (someone tell me the approximate calories for 21, maybe it is closer to 1,500 still my point is valid). I would have burnt more than I ate which means I would be just burning muscle not fat, right? Also I have always heard the body is designed to go into conserve mode if you are burning too much fat and muscle and you will see the weight loss curb if you aren't fueling it. Just what I have heard, I am far from an expert!

I also agree WW is very personal, I would say eat some but look at how that changes your own weight loss. Listening to your body is right, once I get a few weeks into the program I am rarely ravenous. I might eat something like carrots if I have already used my points but I stay satisfied. If you are really hungry your body is telling you something. Tweak where needed to keep losing.

[greycoral]

my new favorite pre-workout snack is pb & j. A small slice of wheat bread, sometimes 2 slices (orowheat makes a low cal bread that is 1 point for 2 slices), covered in 1 Tbsp of low fat pb (Jif, 2 pts per Tbsp), and a little bit of sugar free jam. For a 3 point snack, it really helps me get through a long workout!